Tuesday, August 09, 2005
8:47 AM
And my mother cried buckets as Lady Han confessed to a crime she did not commit in order to save Changjin. Good thing she did not watch the twenty minute melodrama that was the passing away of Lady Han on the shoulders of Changjin as they journeyed in exile. To be fair, it really was a very heart-wrenching twenty minutes.
By the time my mother started watching again, Lady Han was already dead and buried. By then, my mother had regained her composure, and was deeply consoled by the fact that Lady Han had at least a burial.
I had a short chat with her about the issue of death.
Personally, I feel that the living is always more important than the dead: Firstly, I believe the dead do not have eyes to see what goes on after their own demise; a grand burial for someone you've mistreated while he or she was alive is not an adequate compensation. And secondly, the well-being of the 'still-alive' is infinitely more important than the 'already dead'; life must go on, and the living must continue living 'alive-ly', that is, as opposed to living like a zombie.
So I was callously suggesting to my mother that Changjin should have just chucked Lady Han to one side, because she was going to die anyways, instead of wasting her own energy carrying a corpse-to-be. And a burial would not have mattered to the dead Lady Han anyways. Changjin should save her energy and tears on staying alive.
I suppose it is this kind of insensitivity that induces a seething disgust for pastors who try to 'evangalise' during funerals. For the pastor, it is only practical, because the dead guy (if he was a Christian), was going to go to heaven already anyways, so there's not much to be sad about from the pastor's point of view, and the bigger issue for him at hand, is the 'salvation' of the rest of the people who are still alive. Hence he simply does what is the most logical thing to do: try to convert people.
...
When Lazarus died, and Jesus saw his body with the weeping sisters, He did not say 'My friend is dead, but never mind! You've treated him well when he was alive, and he's going to heaven anyways, so let us be happy instead and focus on living properly so that we will all go to heaven together when we all die. Yay!'
Actually, what really happened was.
John 11:35
"Jesus wept."
...
And then He proceeded to revive Lazarus back to life. Well, pastors nowadays don't seem to do that already. Perhaps it's not so popular anymore. So the next better thing to do would be to mourn with the mourning; have some sympathy and empathy. And some PR awareness too. Weeping is a good idea if a pastor was good at theatrics, but otherwise, silence is usually the best idea.
There should not be so much callousness and recklessness when faced with other people's problems, especially when we can't solve it ourselves. It doesn't really help when you're going through a rough patch in life, and someone comes up to you and pats you on the back with grin from ear to ear and say 'Don't worry, I'm sure things will turn out fine', or 'Always look on the bright side of life', or worse still, try to evangelise.
There is a Divine timing for evangalism. Most of the times, it is not the right time. Least of all when I'm watching the soppy parts of Jewel in the Palace.
T_T Lady Han died...
Comments:
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7 comment)
Death... can hit anyone anytime... Much as one would like to think that one's time isnt up as yet because God has plans for oneself, it does not always happen this way... Have seen people check into hospital for the tiniest ailment- then nv to come out again...
# posted by 
: 12:40 PM
: 12:40 PM
Re-reading yr entry.. Hmm maybe funerals are held, not for the dead, but for the living...
# posted by : 1:56 PM
: 1:56 PM
Death is unexpected and we are weak beings, never knowing when the flame of our life will be blown out by the zephyr of death. That's why funerals exist. To deal with the shock.
# posted by : 6:25 PM
: 6:25 PM
Hi, I am glad to have stumbled across this blog, of a person who watched Daejanggeum with great sensitivity and came away from it with your own lessons on life and love. I watched it four times, at least - something I would otherwise do only to a literary classic. I cried the entire night after the passing of Lady Han and drifted through school the following day with my eyes red and swollen (let your mother know she's not alone). And I remember feeling very lonely, because no one I knew bothered to see the drama the way I did. I wonder if you will ever read this comment on a blog entry two years back, but if you do, I would like to say this - you are a wonderful person, don't let anything tell you otherwise, and all the best in life!
# posted by : 6:09 PM
: 6:09 PM
i get an email informing me of comments being made on my blog no matter how long ago the post was...
=)
thank you for your comment!
zichun
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thank you for your comment!
zichun
# posted by : 6:29 PM
: 6:29 PM